2024 – Page 109

Consumers see food prices as rising more than other goods and services, find ways to adapt

21 August 2024

5 minute read

More than 80% of consumers perceive that food prices have increased a little or a lot over the last 12 months, according to the May 2024 Consumer Food Insights Report (CFI).

The survey-based report out of Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability assesses food spending, consumer satisfaction and values, support of agricultural and food policies and trust in information sources. Purdue experts conducted and evaluated the survey, which included 1,200 consumers across the U.S.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index measure of food inflation shows a 12-month increase in food prices of 2.2%, down from 4.4% a year ago. “While food inflation has slowed in 2024, consumers are feeling the cumulative effect of the high inflation we’ve experienced,” said the report’s lead author, Joseph Balagtas, professor of agricultural economics at Purdue and director of CFDAS.

The May CFI survey asked consumers to report their experiences and responses to rising food prices over the last 12 months. The survey included a question asked previously in February and July 2022, seeing how consumers have adapted their grocery shopping in response to food price inflation.

The researchers found that the most common shopping adaptations to food inflation are seeking out sales and discounts, switching to cheaper and generic brands, and buying fewer nonessential foods like ice cream.

“We also wanted to understand how perceived changes in food prices compare with perceived price changes for other common household expenses,” Balagtas said. “Consumers were more likely to report price increases for food than for any other good or service in the economy.”

Similarly, when asked which goods and services saw the largest year-over-year price increase, 56% of consumers selected “food,” despite official inflation data that show prices of insurance, housing and child care have risen faster than prices for food in the past year. “It’s possible the high frequency with which we shop for food could make higher food prices more salient to consumers. Media attention to food could also play a role,” Balagtas said.

The May survey revisited generational differences analyzed in past reports by categorizing consumers into Gen Z (born after 1996), millennials (born 1981-1996), Gen X (born 1965-1980), and boomer-plus (born before 1965).

“One area where we see bigger generational differences when asking about recent consumer experiences is the source of funding that consumers reported relying on to purchase food,”
Balagtas said. “Around 37% of Gen Z and millennial consumers report drawing on savings or going into debt to finance their food purchases over the past year compared to 28% of Gen X and only 13% of boomer-plus consumers. It is concerning to see over a third of young adults needing to stretch their finances to afford food.”

Food insecurity is highest among Gen Z adults, with around one-third of consumers from this group also reporting having trouble accessing quality food. This is much higher than the rate of food insecurity among older Gen X (13%), and boomer-plus (5%) consumers.

“More research is needed, but these results are likely driven in part by a stage-of-life effect, as income and wealth increase are drivers of food security and tend to increase with age,” Balagtas said.

The April consumer price index measure of food price inflation — the most recent available — remained unchanged from March at 2.2%. The inflation rate seems to have stabilized, having stayed around 2.2% for the last three months, noted Elijah Bryant, a survey research analyst at CFDAS and co-author of the report.

“According to the center’s data, consumer estimates of food inflation over the past year of 6.2% and expectations for the coming year of 3.6% continue to remain higher than the CPI estimate,” Bryant said. This suggests that consumer experiences with food prices have been different than the official measurement.

“Consumers’ inflation estimates continue to hover around 6%, showing that the dramatic increase in food inflation in previous years may still be affecting consumer food price sentiment. However, consumers have been consistently more optimistic about future food prices relative to their inflation estimates over the past 12 months,” Bryant said.

Consumers are asked to allocate 100 points among the six attributes — taste, affordability, nutrition, availability, environmental impact and social responsibility — based on the importance of each in their grocery purchasing decisions. Though CFDAS began measuring food values on a quarterly basis in January 2024, the researchers have yet to observe significant changes in the importance level of these attributes.

“Taste, affordability and nutrition continue to be heavily considered by consumers when making a purchasing decision at the grocery store, whereas environmental impact and social responsibility are of lower importance,” Bryant said. “Americans’ values have proven to be fairly consistent despite changes to the economic landscape over the past couple of years.”

The survey results show generational differences in food values, too, between the younger Gen Z and millennial groups and the oldest boomer-plus group. Younger generations place more value on the environmental and social responsibility of their food when choosing what to buy. Older consumers are more concerned about taste.

The frequency of certain shopping and eating habits also differs across age groups. For instance, younger consumers are more likely to choose nonconventional foods compared to older consumers.

“We see this with organic foods, grass-fed beef, cage-free eggs and plant-based proteins,” Bryant said. However, all consumers regardless of age report checking food date labels often.

“We also observe older consumers report eating unwashed produce, raw dough and rare meat less frequently than younger consumers,” he said. This aligns with differences seen in risk attitudes among consumers of different ages. “Young adults are more willing to take risks with their food than older adults,” Bryant said.

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Optimized Foods Leverages Mycelium Technology to Advance Cultivated Caviar and Plant-Based Fats – vegconomist

California-based Optimized Foods, a food technology company specializing in mycelium-based products, is leveraging its proprietary MycoCarrier™ platform to create sustainable and nutritious alternatives to conventionally animal-based foods.

The company’s innovations include Cultivated Caviar, a fish-free substitute for traditional caviar, produced through advanced biomanufacturing techniques.

Mycelium, the root structure of fungi, is at the core of Optimized Foods’ approach. The MycoCarrier™ platform uses spherical mycelium to convert agricultural byproducts into high-value food products. This process aims to enhance the taste, texture, and nutritional value of these products while also addressing significant challenges in the food industry, such as the need for sustainable fat replacements and nutrient bioavailability.

Fish-free caviar

One of the company’s inaugural products is branded as Cultivated Caviar. Traditionally, caviar is harvested from wild sturgeon, a practice that has led to the overfishing of the species, now listed as endangered.

Optimized Foods’ caviar, however, is grown in a lab using cells from sturgeon and edible mycelium scaffolding, drastically reducing the environmental impact and resource consumption associated with caviar production.

This scaffold not only provides structural support but also contributes to the final product’s texture, closely mimicking that of traditional caviar. The company claims that this method allows for the production of premium caviar within just one month, compared to the decade-long process required for conventional farming.

Plant-based fat

In addition to the caviar, Optimized Foods has developed HYphat, a plant-based fat ingredient designed to replicate the sensory experience of animal-derived fats. HYphat is created using the same mycelium technology and is tunable, allowing for size, color, and texture adjustments to meet specific product requirements. The ingredient melts slowly during cooking, similar to animal fat, and is intended for use in alternative protein and plant-based products.

“HYphat represents the future of food innovation”

The company states that HYphat is “a game-changer in the alt-protein industry, as it has the remarkable ability to encapsulate and give structure to any oil, elevating the taste, juiciness, and nutritional value of alternative protein products. We firmly believe that HYphat represents the future of food innovation, unlocking new possibilities for creating mouthwatering, healthy, and sustainable food options.”

Optimized Foods will present its innovations at the upcoming Proveg New Food Conference, one of Europe’s leading events in the food industry. The company has also been selected as one of five startups in the 12th cohort of the ProVeg Incubator accelerator program, demonstrating its growing influence in the sector.

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Lactalis Canada’s Yogurt Brands Support Kids Help Phone

Photo Credit: iStockPhoto.com/portfolio/Ridofranz

TORONTO — Lactalis Canada’s yogurt brands, including iÖGO, iÖGO nanö, Astro, Olympic and siggi’s, have once again teamed up in support of Kids Help Phone with its annual Snack, Give & Win campaign.

In market nationally until Sept. 29, 2024, the campaign will see the company’s yogurt brands donate $40,000 to Kids Help Phone in support of children and youth mental health. New to this year’s campaign, consumers will also have the chance to win $5,000 by purchasing a Lactalis Canada yogurt and uploading their receipt to snackandgive.ca.

“With this latest iteration of Snack, Give & Win, we’re not only going beyond on-shelf deals to generate value for our consumers — particularly during the busy back-to-school period — but supporting the critical work of Kids Help Phone focused on youth mental health and wellbeing,” says Adrienne Pagot-Gérault, general manager, Yogurt & Cultured Division at Lactalis Canada.

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How shippers can navigate Pitney Bowes Global Ecommerce’s shutdown

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In its short life, Pitney Bowes Global Ecommerce carved out a reputation for offering low shipping rates that helped it grow volume even when its future was highly uncertain.

Shein, Victoria’s Secret, BarkBox owner Bark and others benefited from the unit’s economical options, which relied on the U.S. Postal Service for last-mile delivery as industry-wide surcharges and rate increases strained shippers’ finances.

“Over the last 12 to 24 months, the larger customers that have come over to Pitney Bowes, a lot of them migrated because of price,” parcel shipping consultant Mark Waverek said in an interview with Supply Chain Dive.

But offering low prices didn’t help Pitney Bowes in its failed effort to make Global Ecommerce, or GEC, a profitable venture. After years of losses, earlier this month, Pitney Bowes sold its majority interest in the unit to Hilco Global, which will liquidate and wind down the business.

The liquidation process is expected to conclude early next year, but GEC delivery services like Domestic Forward Standard Delivery and Domestic Cross-Border U.S. Outbound have already shut down.

Customers will have to shift GEC-destined volume to other shipping providers, if they haven’t done so already. Experts told Supply Chain Dive that shippers must consider short-term and long-term factors as they adjust their carrier mixes, ranging from peak season performance to changes within the Postal Service’s network.

As Pitney Bowes Global Ecommerce winds down operations, shippers with a diverse carrier mix should face minimal disruption, experts told Supply Chain Dive.

Courtesy of Pitney Bowes

Multi-carrier strategies will help shippers

The shippers best positioned to avoid any disruptions from GEC’s shuttering are those who already have a flexible multi-carrier strategy in place, experts said. Considering the turmoil that has surrounded GEC in Pitney Bowes’ recent quarters, customers should have already been prepping contingency plans prior to the unit’s announced closure.

“The shippers that had two or more options set up for every ZIP code where their customers are located, they’re feeling good right now,” said Timur Eligulashvili, president of Logistics Remix, a parcel delivery carrier representative.

Shippers should evaluate their existing carrier mix first and see which options offer comparable pricing and delivery speeds to GEC before jumping to new providers, experts said. After all, implementing a new carrier can take time, and the clock is ticking as the holiday volume surge approaches.

“You got peak season coming up, you’ve got a hard shutdown over at Pitney Bowes [GEC], so you’ve lost a lot of leverage,” said Waverek, who is managing partner at PlaidMark Management and Consulting Services. “Unless you have a multi-carrier strategy already in place and Pitney Bowes was just a percentage of your allocated volume, you’re in a really bad position.”

While the timing of GEC’s shutdown isn’t ideal, carriers currently have plenty of space in their networks, especially compared to the capacity-strained stretch between 2020 and 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic fueled a spike in home delivery. The softer market has led carriers to offer aggressive rate discounts and for pricing power to swing back into shippers’ favor.

“The good news is we’re still in the shippers’ market,” Eligulashvili said. “There’s slack capacity for delivery, and packages will find their way.”

Despite more favorable conditions for shippers, new carriers are unlikely to offer rates as generous to shippers as GEC did, Eligulashvili added.

“It’s probably not going to happen, but could they get close to them? And what combination of carriers will offer that? That’s the question,” he said.

The shutdown of Pitney Bowes Global Ecommerce could help the U.S. Postal Service grow volume for its Ground Advantage offering, according to experts.

David McNew/Getty Images via Getty Images

Consolidators offer a straightforward alternative

The simplest option for shippers is to bring GEC volume to other shipping consolidators like DHL eCommerce and OSM Worldwide, according to experts. Like GEC, these companies send parcels to Postal Service facilities for final-mile delivery and offer economical shipping options for lightweight packages.

However, shippers looking at these companies as a long-term alternative should gather information about the impact ongoing changes at the Postal Service will have on service reliability and pricing, Waverek said. The agency recently hiked rates and nixed ounce-based pricing for its Parcel Select service, which consolidators rely on.

That uncertainty may lead shippers to look beyond consolidators for long-term GEC replacements. National parcel carriers such as FedEx and UPS, along with regional alternatives, could be viable options if their pricing is strong enough to sway former GEC shippers, experts told Supply Chain Dive.

Large-scale businesses may also be able to ink a direct contract with the Postal Service and leverage its Ground Advantage delivery offering as the agency looks to attract more direct customers into its network. The Postal Service’s mailing options also work for lightweight packages, Gordon Glazer, senior consultant and USPS specialist at Shipware, said in a LinkedIn video.

“There’s a 50-to-60% save there,” Glazer said. “These packages move just as fast as the ground service, but it does require different tracking symbology as well as specialized packaging in order to conform with the physical requirements of the Postal Service.”

Even after shippers shift volume to other providers, the GEC shutdown could present some lingering operational headaches, particularly for package returns.

GEC will pick up returns from the Postal Service until Sept. 5. But if a customer returns a package after that date, where will it end up? Oscar Gladman, senior director of parcel at Kenco Group, said these packages could be held up at a Postal Service facility until a shipper retrieves it themselves.

“It might create an issue for returns customers for a little while who were printing labels and putting them in outbound packages,” Gladman said

Editor’s note: This story was first published in our Logistics Weekly newsletter. Sign up here.

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USPOULTRY opens nominations for Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award

TUCKER, GA. — The US Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) announced on Aug. 6 that nominations for the 2025 Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award are open. The award honors family farmers who have demonstrated exceptional environmental stewardship in poultry and egg production.

To be eligible, nominees must be family-owned poultry growers or egg producers who supply products to a USPOULTRY member or independent producers who are USPOULTRY members.

“Poultry growers and egg producers are constantly thinking of ways to enhance environmental stewardship on their farms,” said Mikell Fries of Claxton Poultry Farms and USPOULTRY chair. “The steadfast commitment exemplified by our award winners deserves to be celebrated and commended.”

Nominations for the 2025 award can be submitted before Oct. 25 by USPOULTRY members, affiliated state poultry associations, or individually by poultry and egg producers. Each organization may nominate two growers or producers per processing facility in the state(s) they operate.

Finalists from each region will receive a trip to the 2025 International Poultry Expo, part of the International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), in Atlanta, Ga., which will include travel expenses and hotel accommodations for two nights. They will also receive a Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award sign to display at their operation.

Regional winners will be announced on Jan. 28, 2025, at the Animal Agriculture Sustainability Summit, held in conjunction with IPPE. They will receive a $1,000 cash award and be featured on USPOULTRY’s website. USPOULTRY plans to assist in promoting the award at local, regional and national levels.

Previous winners must wait three years before reapplying.

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Export Development Canada sees relationships as key in Asia push

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Established in 2002 and with offices in London and Singapore, Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd is the world’s leading trade and trade finance media company, offering information, news, events and services for companies and individuals involved in global trade.

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Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd is a company registered in the United Kingdom with company number 4407327 | VAT Registration: 799 1585 59

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We collect certain personal data from you, which you give to us when using our Site and/or registering or subscribing for our products and services. However, we also give you the option to access our Sites’ home pages without subscribing or registering or disclosing your personal data.

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How do we collect information from you?

We obtain information about you when you use our website, for example, when you contact us about products and services, when you register for an event, register to receive eNewsletters, subscribe or register for a trial to our GTR magazine/website.

Types of Personal Data Held and its Use

1. Customer Services and Administration

On some Sites, Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd collects personal data such as your name, job title, department, company, e-mail, phone, work and/or home address, in order to register you for access to certain content, subscriptions and events. In addition, we may also store information including IP address and page analytics, including information regarding what pages are accessed, by whom and when.

This information is used to administer and deliver to you the products and/or services you have requested, to operate our Sites efficiently and improve our service to you, and to retain records of our business transactions and communications. By using the Sites and submitting personal information through the registration process you are agreeing that we may collect, hold, process and use your information (including personal information) for the purpose of providing you with the Site services and developing our business, which shall include (without limitation) the purposes described in the below paragraphs.

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Where, as part of our Site services, we enable you to post information or materials on our Site, we may access and monitor any information which you upload or input, including in any password-protected sections. Subject to any necessary consents, we also monitor and/or record the different Sites you visit and actions taken on those Sites, e.g. content viewed or searched for. If you are a registered user (e.g. a subscriber or taking a trial), when you log on, this places a cookie on your machine. This enables your access to content and services that

are not publicly available. Once you are logged on, the actions you take – for example, viewing an article – will be recorded (subject to any necessary consents). We may use technology or a service provider to do this for us. This information may be used for one or more of the following purposes:

to fulfil our obligations to you;

to improve the efficiency, quality and design of our Sites and services;

to see which articles, features and services are most read and used

to track compliance with our terms and conditions of use, e.g. to ensure that you are acting within the scope of your user licence;

for marketing purposes (subject to your rights to opt-in and opt-out of receiving certain marketing communications) – see paragraph 3 below;

for advertising purposes, although the information used for these purposes does not identify you personally. Please see paragraph 5 below for more details;

to protect or comply with our legal rights and obligations; and

to enable our journalists to contact and interact with you online in connection with any content you may post to our Sites.

Please see paragraph 5 below for more information on cookies and similar technologies and a link to a page where you can turn them on or off.

3. Marketing

Some of your personal data collected under paragraphs 1 and 2 above may be used by us to contact you by e-mail, telephone and/or post for sending information or promotional material on our products and/or services and/or those of our other group companies.
We give you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving marketing communications. Further detail can be found on the applicable Site and in the footer of each marketing communication sent by us, our group companies or service providers. See also “Consents and opt-outs” section below.
We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

4. Profiling

We may analyse your personal information to create a profile of your interests and preferences so that we can contact you with information relevant to you.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

All our Sites use cookies and similar technical tools to collect information about your access to the Site and the services we provide.

What is a cookie?

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record activity on our Sites so that we understand how you use our Sites enabling us to better tailor our content, services and marketing to your needs;

collect statistical information about how you use the Site so that we can improve the Site; and

gather information about the pages on the Site that you visit, and other information about other websites that you visit, so as to place you in a “market segment”. This information is only collected by reference to the IP address that you are using, but does include information about the county and city you are in, together with the name of your internet service provider.

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but, if you prefer, you can change your browser to prevent that, or to notify you each time a cookie is set. You can also learn more about cookies in general by visiting www.allaboutcookies.org which includes additional useful information on cookies and how to block cookies using different types of browser. Please note however, that by blocking, deleting or turning off cookies used on the Site you may not be able to take full advantage of the Site.

6. E-mail tracking

E-mail tracking is a method for monitoring the e-mail delivery to those subscribers who have opted-in to receive marketing e-mails from GTR, including GTR Africa, GTR Asia, GTR Americas, GTR Europe, GTR Mena, GTR eNews, Third party e-mails and GTR Ventures.

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So that we can better understand our users’ needs, we track responses, subscription behaviour and engagement to our e-mails – for example, to see which links are the most popular in newsletters. They enable us to understand the consumers journey through metrics including open rate, click-through rate, bounces and unsubscribes. Any other purposes for which Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd wishes to use your personal data will be notified to you and your personal data will not be used for any such purpose without obtaining your prior consent.

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To do this, we use pixel GIFs, also known as “pixel tags” – these are small image files that are placed within the body of our e-mail messages. When that image is downloaded from our web servers, the e-mail is recorded as being opened. By using some form of digitally time-stamped record to reveal the exact time and date that an e-mail was received or opened, as well the IP address of the recipient.

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You can give your consent to opt-out of all or any particular uses of your data as indicated above by:

Indicating at the point on the relevant Site where personal data is collected

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Updating your preferences on the applicable Site or eNewsletter (unsubscribe and preference options are available in the footer of each eNewsletter)

To turn cookies and similar technologies on and off, see the information in paragraph 5 above.
Any questions regarding consents and opt-outs should be sent by e-mail to privacy@gtreview.com or by writing to Data Protection Officer at, Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd, 4 Hillgate Place, London, SW12 9ER, United Kingdom. Alternatively, you can telephone our London headquarters at +44 (0) 20 8673 9666.

8. Disclosures

Information collected at one Site may be shared between Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd and other group companies for the purposes listed above.

We may transfer, sell or assign any of the information described in this policy to third parties as a result of a sale, merger, consolidation, change of control, transfer of assets or reorganisation of our business.

9. Public forums, message boards and blogs

Some of our Sites may have a message board, blogs or other facilities for user generated content available and users can participate in these facilities. Any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should always be careful when deciding to disclose your personal information.

10. Data outside the EEA

Services on the Internet are accessible globally so collection and transmission of personal data is not always limited to one country. Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd may transfer your personal data, for the above-listed purposes to other third parties, which may be located outside the European Economic Area and/or with a different level of personal data protection. However, when conducting transfers, we take all necessary steps to ensure that your data is treated reasonably, securely and in accordance with this Privacy Statement.

Who has access to your information?

Confidentiality and Security of Your Personal Data

We are committed to keeping the data you provide us secure and will take reasonable precautions to protect your personal data from loss, misuse or alteration.

However, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our Site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features described above to try to prevent unauthorised access.

We have implemented information security policies, rules and technical measures to protect the personal data that we have under our control from:

unauthorised access

improper use or disclosure

unauthorised modification

unlawful destruction or accidental loss

All our employees, contractors and data processors (i.e. those who process your personal data on our behalf, for the purposes listed above), who have access to, and are associated with the processing of your personal data, are obliged to keep the information confidential and not use it for any other purpose than to carry out the services they are performing for us.

Responsibilities

Everyone who works for or with Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd has some responsibility for ensuring data is collected, stored and handled appropriately. Each team handling personal data must ensure that it is handled and processed in line with this policy and data protection principles. However, the following people have key areas of responsibility.
The board of directors is ultimately responsible for ensuring that Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd meets its legal obligations.

Name of Data Controller

The Data Controller is Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd. Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd is subject to the UK Data Protection Act 1998 and is registered in the UK with the Information Commissioner`s Office.

How to access, update and erase your personal information

If you wish to know whether we are keeping personal data about you, or if you have an enquiry about our privacy policy or your personal data held by us, in relation to any of the Sites, you can contact the Data Protection Officer via:

By writing to this address: Data Protection Officer, Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd, 4 Hillgate Place, London, SW12 9ER, UK

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8673 9666

E-mail: privacy@gtreview.com

Upon request, we will provide you with a readable copy of the personal data which we keep about you. We may require proof of your identity and may charge a small fee (not exceeding the statutory maximum fee that can be charged) to cover administration and postage.

Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd allows you to challenge the data that we hold about you and, where appropriate in accordance with applicable laws, you may have your personal information:

erased

rectified or amended

completed

Disclosing data for other reasons

In certain circumstances, the Data Protection Act allows personal data to be disclosed to law enforcement agencies without the consent of the data subject. Under these circumstances, Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd, will disclose requested data. However, the Data Controller will ensure the request is legitimate, seeking assistance from the board and from the company’s legal advisors where necessary.

Changes to this Privacy Statement

We will occasionally update this Privacy Statement to reflect new legislation or industry practice, group company changes and customer feedback. We encourage you to review this Privacy Statement periodically to be informed of how we are protecting your personal data.

Providing information

Exporta Publishing & Events Ltd aims to ensure that individuals are aware that their data is being processed, and that they understand.

How the data is being used

How to exercise their rights

To this end, the company has a privacy statement, setting out how data relating to individuals is used by the company. This is available on request and available on the company’s website.

Review of this policy

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Shake Shack launches robot delivery with Serve Robotics and Uber

Shake Shack is rolling out sidewalk robot delivery for the first time in partnership with Serve Robotics and Uber Eats. Customers in Los Angeles that order their Shake Shack burgers via Uber Eats very well might have their food delivered by an autonomous robot.

While this might be the first time Serve Robotics’ sidewalk delivery robots will be working with Shake Shack, it’s not the burger chain’s first foray into autonomous delivery solutions. Last November, NRN reported that Shake Shack was partnering with Motional to use the company’s Ioniq 5 robotaxi to shuttle delivery orders around in Las Vegas, also in partnership with Uber. While sidewalk robots can handle short-range deliveries, autonomous vehicles like the robotaxi can take on longer delivery ranges.

“We love working with Uber and Serve Robotics on this partnership and lean into their expertise to help further our commitment to leveraging innovation to enhance guest experiences,” Steph So, senior vice president of digital experience at Shake Shack, told Nation’s Restaurant News. “We see autonomous delivery continuing to grow in popularity and we want to meet our customers where they are while maintaining our enlightened hospitality and premium ingredients.”

So added that in early pilots of robotic technology in Miami, Shake Shack has seen shorter delivery times, increased capacity, and overall improved guest experiences. Right now, Shake Shack is still in early stages of testing, but So said that autonomous delivery could become a part of Shake Shack’s permanent strategy.

“Guests receiving deliveries are delighted and guests in-Shack benefit from less congestion of couriers in and out of the restaurant at peak times,” she said.

Uber Eats has also been a supporter of Serve Robotics for several years, and currently owns approximately a 16% stake in the company. Since Serve went public last year, the company has been working on expanding both to new territories and to new operator partners. Last summer, Uber and Serve’s partnership expanded the test in the Los Angeles, with the goal of growing to a fleet of 2,000 delivery robots by 2025 across the country.

“We are excited to add another national merchant like Shake Shack to our platform, a partnership made possible through the relationship we have built with Uber Eats across tens of thousands of successful deliveries,” Touraj Parang, President and COO of Serve Robotics, said in a statement. “This announcement highlights the value of Serve’s world-class strategic partnerships as we work to expand our geographic footprint.”

Contact Joanna at [email protected]m

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Starbucks to Drop Pumpkin Spice Latte Earlier Than Ever with Stanley Collab

Pumpkin creep is starting to feel more like a sprint. On Wednesday, coffee giant Starbucks announced that it would bring back its fall menu items (including its coveted Pumpkin Spice Latte, a.k.a. the PSL) on August 22 — the earliest the company has ever done so. In addition to introducing a few new autumnal offerings, Starbucks has teamed up with drinkware company Stanley to launch a limited-edition coffee cup.

According to Starbucks, the fall 2024 menu will feature fan-favorites like the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai, and Apple Crisp Oatmilk Macchiato. Menu newcomers include an Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai as well as two Starbucks app-exclusives: the Iced Caramel Apple Cream Latte and the Iced Honey Apple Almondmilk Flat White. The seasonal food menu will feature the returning Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin, Baked Apple Croissant, and Pumpkin & Pepita Loaf in addition to a new Raccoon Cake Pop.

The same day the new menus drop, Starbucks will begin offering a line of fall merch in stores, including an olive-green mug in collaboration with Stanley. The line includes eight different reusable water bottles, mugs, tumblers, and cold cups in a range of autumnal colors. Prices range from $20 to $55.

This announcement comes after the coffee chain’s stock price plummeted by over 15 percent in May. Since the beginning of 2024, the company has cut its sales outlook for the year twice, citing long wait times in the morning coffee rush as a major deterrent for would-be customers. The coffee giant is likely banking on its fall lineup to help rebound from slowing sales, as in the past, ten percent of the company’s annual sales have been attributed to PSLs. According to a press release, Starbucks also recently appointed former Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol as its chairman and CEO. Niccol is expected to begin his new role in early September.

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Consumers see food prices rising more than other goods, find ways to adapt

Consumers are seeking out sales and discounts, switching to cheaper and generic brands and buying fewer nonessential foods like ice cream

21 August 2024

5 minute read

More than 80% of consumers perceive that food prices have increased a little or a lot over the last 12 months, according to the May 2024 Consumer Food Insights Report (CFI).

The frequency of certain shopping and eating habits also differs across age groups. For instance, younger consumers are more likely to choose nonconventional foods compared to older consumers.

“We see this with organic foods, grass-fed beef, cage-free eggs and plant-based proteins,” Bryant said. However, all consumers regardless of age report checking food date labels often.

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Ag bills captured in Legislature’s fiscal gauntlet

More than 800 bills faced the Legislature’s fiscal gatekeepers last week, and about a third failed to pass. The biannual Appropriations culling brought some relief on the agriculture front, but also disappointments.

Bills marked as costing the state at least $50,000 to implement or requiring $150,000 or more from special funds were placed in suspense files. Likened to an auction, the committees then dispensed with the files on Thursday, ticking through the votes in a single sitting and without public debate. Some discussions took place in earlier hearings but were strictly limited to the potential costs—any debate on the merits of a bill was forbidden. The opaque nature of the votes allowed the Democratic majority to stall less savory legislation and avoid public infighting.

While some of the bills were controversial, one lawmaker was the likely target of the legislative culling in one case. Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil of Modesto took a bold step a week before the hearings and left the Democratic Party to join Republicans on the other side of the aisle, drawing scorn from her former colleagues. As many anticipated, she suffered a slew of setbacks in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which held her measure sponsored by the California Farm Bureau. Senate Bill 945 would have created a data platform for state agencies to track the health impacts of wildfire smoke. The aim was to better assess the effectiveness of forest health and wildfire mitigation strategies.

Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, R-Jackson

Another bill blocked from advancing would have allocated potential climate bond funding to improving water infrastructure for communities in high fire hazard zones.

Alvarado-Gil viewed the defeats as “a stunning display of political retribution.”

“I can take whatever heat is coming my way and fully recognize it comes with the territory of leaving a supermajority that operates like a mob,” she said in a statement. “They can attack me all they want, but the people of California do not deserve to suffer because of political vendettas.”

A fellow moderate familiar with having bills blocked in Appropriations, Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Bakersfield, has long drawn the ire of leadership, dating back to her first years in the Capitol when she pushed for water infrastructure investments. Last week Hurtado lost four bills indirectly related to agriculture, though no industry groups took positions on the measures. She proposed to set new requirements on lobbying by foreign entities, increase fines for trade violations, protect critical infrastructure from cybersecurity attacks and expand food assistance to undocumented immigrants aged 55 or older.

Another agriculture-sponsored bill was AB 2827, which would have made it a priority for CDFA to detect and eradicate invasive species. California Citrus Mutual backed the measure in response to the spread of citrus greening in the Inland Empire. Several farm groups signed on, and it sailed through committees with unanimous bipartisan support.

While CDFA estimated the bill would not have a direct fiscal impact, since the department already performs the duties, it did warn that expanding those efforts could cost tens of millions of dollars. Adding to skepticism over the need for the bill, committee staff noted the Legislature and the governor had already agreed to $22 million in emergency funding to combat fruit fly infestations.

Other bills held in committee drew a sigh of relief from agriculture.

Assembly Bill 560 would have required the Department of Water Resources to review settlement agreements in groundwater adjudications before final approval. Assemblymember Steve Bennett, D-Ventura, argued powerful corporate agribusinesses are sidestepping local groundwater sustainability agencies through the court adjudication process. The California Chamber of Commerce countered that the adjudication process is already complicated, expensive and lengthy and that AB 560 would exacerbate those issues.

In the realm of public safety, AB 2149, following a child’s death at a playground, would have enacted new inspection requirements for gates. A large agriculture coalition led by the Wine Institute opposed the measure, claiming it would saddle small businesses with a significant regulatory burden. Cal/OSHA is also considering new safety standards for gates at workplaces.

A battle over defensible space fizzled away last week with the demise of SB 610. The Newsom administration bill would have reformed the way the state draws maps for fire hazards. Proponents argued it would have standardized fire mitigation requirements across state and local boundaries. But the bill came late in the session, when Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, gutted a previous measure and inserted the new language.

Groups like Rural County Representatives of California and the California Farm Bureau were apprehensive about enacting such sweeping changes in a shortened time span, while environmental groups worried the bill would expand urban development into hazardous regions.

Many other bills took amendments in the Appropriations committees and will advance to floor votes. Lawmakers have until the end of August to send measures to the governor.

For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.

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